Sekondi: Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the Board Chairman of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has called for stronger collaboration with Regional Security Councils to effectively combat the smuggling of cocoa beans and farm inputs. He made the call during an interaction with the Western Regional Minister, at Sekondi, as part of his three-day working visit to the Region.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr Ampofo highlighted that the smuggling of cocoa beans along the country's borders remained a major concern to COCOBOD. The issue, he noted, had expanded beyond cocoa beans to include the illicit trade of farm inputs and other resources that COCOBOD has been providing to farmers at no cost.
Mr Ampofo pointed out that COCOBOD had distributed agricultural inputs worth 5.8 million dollars to farmers this year. However, this significant investment was jeopardized by farmers bypassing official channels to sell their produce to smugglers. He emphasized the lack of coordination and collaboration between COCOBOD and Regional Security Councils, which he believes hampers effective monitoring and intervention efforts.
The Board Chairman argued that an enhanced partnership would enable security agencies to better understand smuggling operations, track distributed farming inputs, and establish effective monitoring mechanisms to halt smuggling activities across the regions. Dr James Kofi Kutsoati, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in-Charge of Operations at COCOBOD, revealed that the organization was in the process of reforming its cocoa inputs distribution system by transitioning cooperative groups into a task force model to better control cocoa diseases and pests.
Furthermore, Mr Joseph Nelson, the Western Regional Minister, urged the Board to address the communication gap between COCOBOD and regional coordinating councils to ensure a coordinated and effective monitoring effort.